Sewage Disposal: Ballywalter

Lord Kilclooney: asked Her Majesty's Government:
	What proposals there are to provide a new sewage disposal works in the village of Ballywalter, County Down.

Baroness Amos: The Chief Executive of Water Service (Mrs Katharine Bryan) has replied to the noble Lord in response to this Question.
	Letter from Mr Trevor Haslett (on behalf of the Chief Executive of the Water Service) to Lord Kilclooney dated 7 April 2004.
	You recently asked Her Majesty's Government a Parliamentary Question (PQ 1197) about proposals to provide a new sewage disposal works in the village of Ballywalter, County Down. The Chief Executive of Water Service was asked to respond as the issue falls within her operational responsibility, and I am replying on her behalf as she is currently on annual leave.
	Under the Urban Waste Water Treatment Regulations (NI) 1995, Water Service will have to upgrade waste water treatment facilities at a number of coastal discharge points on the east coast of the Ards peninsula, including Ballywalter. It is estimated that this will cost around £10 million, and is part of a larger investment of around £650 million required to upgrade waste water treatment works across Northern Ireland over the next six years. This level of investment cannot be met by public expenditure alone. Water Service, in liaison with the Strategic Investment Board, is therefore taking forward a major public/private partnership programme to upgrade both water and waste water treatment facilities. The provision of new waste water facilities for the east coast of the Ards peninsula is currently included in the £130 million PPP waste water programme and it is planned to award the contracts for the procurement of the waste water infrastructure projects in 2007.

Civil Partnerships

Lord Lester of Herne Hill: asked Her Majesty's Government:
	Why Schedule 14 to the Civil Partnerships Bill ("meaning of overseas relationship") excludes many countries and territories with partnership registration schemes identified in tables 1 and 2 of the White Paper, Civil Partnership (June 2003).

Baroness Scotland of Asthal: Tables 1 and 2 of Civil Partnership: A framework for the legal recognition of same-sex couples provided information about a wide range of partnership schemes in other countries for comparative purposes. It is not appropriate for all these relationships to be listed in Schedule 14 to the Bill. In some cases this is because the overseas relationship in question does not meet one or more of the "general conditions" contained in Clause 154, for example because it does not involve registration of the partnership. It is not considered appropriate to treat relationships of this kind as civil partnerships. In other cases, it was decided not to include a relationship in Schedule 14 until further research has been completed.
	Officials continue to gather information on relationships in other countries and territories in order to determine whether they should be added to the list contained in Schedule 14. There will be a continual need to review and update this list as new kinds of relationship come into effect in other countries. Clause 153 of the Bill allows for the schedule to be amended by subordinate legislation.
	The absence of a relationship from Schedule 14 does not preclude the parties to such a relationship from being treated as civil partners in the UK, if the relationship meets the "general conditions" laid down in Clause 154, provided the other requirements of Clauses 152 to 158 are met.

Afghanistan: ISAF

The Earl of Sandwich: asked Her Majesty's Government:
	In which areas of command NATO now has military authority in Afghanistan; and when there will be a unified command structure.

Lord Bach: The NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) currently routinely operates in and around Kabul and in the four provinces of Badakhshan, Baghlan, Kunduz and Takhar in north-eastern Afghanistan. It may also undertake temporary deployments elsewhere in the country. NATO's preparations to expand ISAF across Afghanistan do not extend to command of coalition forces, which will continue to operate as part of Operation Enduring Freedom.

Attack Submarines

Lord Astor of Hever: asked Her Majesty's Government:
	What are the paying-off dates for each of the Trafalgar class attack submarines.

Lord Bach: The planned decommissioning dates for the Royal Navy Trafalgar class attack submarines are listed below:
	
		
			 HMS Date 
			 Trafalgar 2007 
			 Turbulent 2008 
			 Tireless 2011 
			 Talent 2017 
			 Triumph 2019 
			 Torbay 2021 
			 Trenchant 2023

Attack Submarines

Lord Astor of Hever: asked Her Majesty's Government:
	How many attack submarines are currently equipped with a dry hanger; and how many attack submarines will be so equipped from 2007 onwards.

Lord Bach: I am withholding this information under Exemption 1a (Defence, security and international relations) of the Code of Practice on Access to Government Information.

HMS "Invincible"

Lord Astor of Hever: asked Her Majesty's Government:
	What proportion of fixed wing air-defence, ground attack aircraft and rotary wing aircraft they plan to deploy on HMS Invincible between 2004 and 2012.

Lord Bach: HMS "Invincible" will embark one Squadron of each type of aircraft for her current programme.

Harrier GR7/9

Lord Astor of Hever: asked Her Majesty's Government:
	What is the planned operational life of the Harrier GR7/9 fleet.

Lord Bach: The Harrier GR7 is being upgraded to GR9 standard over the next five years. Our current plan is that the Harrier GR9 will remain in operational service with the Royal Air Force until the middle of the next decade.

Medicines for Human Use (Clinical Trials) Regulations

Baroness Knight of Collingtree: asked Her Majesty's Government:
	What were the circumstances that led to the Medicines for Human Use (Clinical Trials) Regulations 2004 (S.I. 2004/1031) being laid before the House on 1 April; who was consulted about their contents prior to laying them; and what provision will be made for parliamentary scrutiny and debate prior to their implementation.

Lord Warner: The Medicines for Human Use (Clinical Trials) Regulations 2004 implement into UK law Directive 2001/20/EC relating to the implementation of good clinical practice in the conduct of clinical trials on medicinal products for human use. The regulations were laid before the House on 1 April to enable the UK to fulfil its obligation under European Community law to implement the directive by 1 May 2004.
	The Government have consulted extensively with stakeholders on the UK regulations. Consultation has been ongoing through workshops and meetings with key stakeholders including the pharmaceutical industry, ethics committees, those responsible for medical research and development in the National Health Service, the academic community and medical research charities. The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency conducted a formal consultation exercise between February and May 2003 and received over 160 responses from a wide range of stakeholders including the pharmaceutical industry and those involved in non-commercial trials. Following this, the Government established a Medical Research Council/Department of Health joint project to help to develop practical solutions to some of the potential problems identified by non-commercial trialists. Throughout the process of drawing up the regulations I have had numerous meetings with, and written to, various groups and individuals with interests in non-commercial trials to keep them informed of progress and to seek feedback. Where possible, the Government have taken account of the concerns of stakeholders in the regulations laid before Parliament.
	Scrutiny of these regulations will be the same as for any other statutory instrument under the negative procedure. The regulations have been brought to the attention of Parliament and it is always open to Members to lay a prayer against such regulations. I wrote to a wide range of stakeholders including Front- Bench spokesmen on 1 April to inform them of the laying of the regulations. I understand that a Starred Question has been tabled for response in the House of Lords on 5 May and a Prayer against the regulations will be debated in the House of Commons on 25 May.

Azinphos-methyl: Inveresk Study

Lord Clement-Jones: asked Her Majesty's Government:
	Further to the Written Answer by the Baroness Hollis of Heigham on 29 January (WA 57) on the Inveresk study, which department or agency is responsible for approving human experiments with toxic industrial chemicals if the responsibility does not lie with the Health and Safety Executive.

Baroness Hollis of Heigham: There is no requirement or procedure for the advance approval of such experiments. The Health and Safety Executive will normally be the enforcing authority for the provisions of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act.

London Borough of Lambeth:Birth Registrations

Earl Russell: asked Her Majesty's Government:
	In the case of a child born in the London Borough of Lambeth, what is the average time elapsing between the birth and its registration.

Lord McIntosh of Haringey: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the National Statistician, who has been asked to reply.
	Letter from the National Statistician, Len Cook, to the Earl Russell, dated 27 April 2004.
	As National Statistician I have been asked to reply to your request for the average time elapsed between birth and registration for a child born in the London Borough of Lambeth. (HL2458)
	The table below shows both the mean and median time elapsed from birth to registration for children born in Lambeth in the years 2000, 2001 and 2002.
	
		Number, days 
		
			 Year(1) Number of live-births Mean(2) time elapsed (days) Median(3) time elapsed (days) 
			 2000 4,344 26.9 24.6 
			 2001 4,397 25.3 23.0 
			 2002 4,374 28.2 27.2 
		
	
	Source:
	Office for National Statistics.
	(1) Annual figures cover births occurring in each calendar year. However, a very small number of births are registered too late to be included in the counts for the appropriate year and are instead included in those for the following year.
	(2) Mean is the arithmetical average time elapsed.
	(3) Median represents the time within which exactly half of the children were registered.

Migration Statistics

Earl Russell: asked Her Majesty's Government:
	How British subjects leaving a foreign domicile and resuming a British domicile are classified in the annual statistics of net migration.

Lord McIntosh of Haringey: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the National Statistician, who has been asked to reply.
	Letter from the National Statistician, Len Cook, to the Earl Russell, dated 27 April 2004.
	As National Statistician, I have been asked to reply to your recent question concerning how British subjects leaving a foreign domicile and resuming a British domicile are classified in the annual statistics of net migration. (HL2459)
	The Office for National Statistics estimates the number of British citizens entering the United Kingdom using data from the International Passenger Survey and the Irish Central Statistical Office. They are identified from the nationality shown on their passport.
	A migrant is defined as someone who changes his or her country of usual residence for a period of at least a year, so that the country of destination effectively becomes the country of usual residence. Thus, only British citizens returning to the UK with the intention of staying for a year or more, having spent over a year living abroad, will be included in the annual statistics of net international migration.

Railways: Disabled Access

Baroness Masham of Ilton: asked Her Majesty's Government:
	Whether they will encourage train operators to ensure that trains carry ramps so that disabled passengers can disembark from trains at unstaffed stations or in an emergency; and
	Why some train operators have installed low tables, under which people using wheelchairs cannot put their legs, at some of the places allocated to disabled passengers on trains.

Lord Davies of Oldham: We have introduced regulations under Part 5 of the Disability Discrimination Act 1995 requiring all new trains entering service from 1 January 1999 to be accessible to disabled people. During the past two and half years, over 1,400 new fully accessible rail vehicles have entered service and there will be over 1,000 more within the next 18 months.
	The Rail Vehicle Accessibility Regulations specify a range of features to help disabled people, including those who need to travel in wheelchairs. The regulations require the operator of a regulated rail vehicle to supply a boarding device (generally a ramp) to enable wheelchair users to board and alight from the train. The ramp can be either stowed on the train or kept at the station but it must in either case be made available for use when a disabled passenger needs it.
	The regulations also require a table to be provided for passengers using the wheelchair accessible space. They stipulate that the lowest point on the underside of the tabletop in a regulated vehicle must be not less than 720 mm vertically above the floor of the vehicle. This dimension is prescribed to ensure that a wheelchair user is provided with comfortable legroom below the table when it is in use.
	I am not aware that any new trains are being fitted with tables that do not comply with these specifications. If this were the case, the operators would be in breach of the regulations.
	Trains that came into service before the regulations were introduced are not subject to these requirements as a matter of law although many do offer good levels of access both to wheelchair users and other disabled people.